Discuss the concept of personhood as used in nursing as caring theory.

Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in the current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources.

 

 

The Concept of Personhood As Used In the Nursing Caring Theory

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The Concept of Personhood As Used In the Nursing Caring Theory

The concept of personhood has a central role in defining nursing care. According to Sofronas et al. (2018), the first philosophical deliberations regarding the meaning of being a person date back to Plato’s Republic. Plato provided differences between being a person and being non-human and examined the nature of a person’s capacity for intelligence, rationality, and moral action (Sofronas et al., 2018). The concept of personhood is also presented in the theory of nursing as caring. In that regard, this paper discusses the concept of personhood as used in the theory of nursing as caring.

As stated by CSU (n.d.), the theory of nursing as caring is a grand nursing theory that is used as a framework to guide nursing practice. The primary aim of nursing is to natural persons to live and grow in caring. Caring is the authentic and intentional reason for a nurse’s presence with another person. The theory of nursing as caring is based on several assumptions.

One of the many assumptions is that a person is a naturally caring being. The author assumed that persons are caring by virtue of their humanness (CSU, n.d.). This assumption is closely related to what Sofronas et al. (2018) suggest that personhood is a state of being with certain moral status or a bearer of rights.

Sofronas et al. (2018) suggest further that a person is a being in possession of a sense of self, can hold values, and make choices. This idea is in line with the assumption of the theory of nursing as caring that personhood is enhanced through participating in nurturing caring relationships with others. Human beings need caring relationships to accomplish the concept of personhood both to the person caring and to the one receiving (Sofronas et al., 2018).

Personhood is perceived in the context of a human being who is conscious, has a concept of self-awareness, and is capable of experiencing emotions. Human beings can feel pleasure and pain hence, need caring relationships (CSU, n.d.). Therefore, nurses are required to utilize the concept of personhood as a basis for their practice.

The theory of nursing as caring assumes that personhood is living a life grounded in caring. Therefore, nurses are needed to continuously improve their personhood through the care process. With the principles and assumptions of the theory of nursing as caring, nurses can improve the kind of care and clinical outcomes by building effective caring relationships with patients (CSU, n.d.). The overall idea of the theory of nursing as caring is that all humans are caring persons.

Nurses should incorporate the concept of personhood in practice. This particular aspect will enable nurses to be complete or whole persons and to live caring moment-to-moment (Sofronas et al., 2018). Since personhood also involves emotional care, nurses can address both the physical and emotional aspects of their patients.

In summary, the concept of personhood is a significant topic in nursing practice and healthcare as a whole. The concept of personhood is presented in the theory of nursing as caring. The theory assumes that personhood is living a life grounded in caring. This idea is essential to nurses to enhance the nature of the care they offer to patients. A person should be caring by virtue of their humanness.

The theory of nursing as caring assumes that personhood is enhanced through participating in nurturing caring relationships with others. This depicts that nurses should build caring relationships with their patients.

References

CSU. (n.d.). Anne Boykin & Savina Schoenhofer – Nursing As Caring. https://library.stritch.edu/Guides/Research/Subject-Guides/Nursing-Theorists-Boykin-and-Schoenhofer#:~:text=The%20theory%20of%20Nursing%20As,or%20complete%20in%20the%20moment

Sofronas, M., Wright, D. K., & Carnevale, F. A. (2018). Personhood: An evolutionary concept analysis for nursing ethics, theory, practice, and research. In Nursing Forum (Vol. 53, No. 4, pp. 406-415). 10.1111/nuf.12267